Examining student teachers’ engagement with the theory-practice link in initial teacher education

The theory-practice debate has been a perennial issue in initial teacher education (ITE). By reporting a mixed-methods study in an ITE programme characterized by a university-based ‘theory-first’ approach in Hong Kong, this study offers useful empirical evidence to analyse the theory-practice issue. 346 student teachers of a BEd Programme participated in the quantitative survey, 15 of whom were interviewed. The quantitative findings showed significant positive correlations between three types of perceived professional competence and two aspects of student teachers’ engagement with the theory-practice link. The qualitative findings offered an in-depth understanding of the ways in which student teachers connected theoretical knowledge learned in ITE coursework and practical experience in ITE fieldwork in developing their professional competence: (1) theoretical knowledge as a guide for professional decisions and a tool for reflection on practice; (2) practicalizing theoretical knowledge: adapting theoretical knowledge to practice situations. In the process of engagement, theoretical knowledge was transformed and adapted to practice situations when student teachers coped with the challenges of the teaching contexts in their ITE fieldwork. While affirming the value of student teachers’ engagement with the theory-practice link, the findings of the study shed light on ITE practices for preparing student teachers for such engagement.     

Changes in student teachers’ motives and the meaning of teacher education programme quality

This study provides insights into possible changes in 83 student teachers’ motives for becoming teachers, their professional commitment and their self-efficacy after a year of teacher education. Furthermore, it addresses the extent to which these changes relate to student teachers’ perceptions of their learning environment – specifically, their perceptions of the quality of teaching, generic skills and assessment. Student teachers completed a survey at the beginning and at the end of a single year of teacher education, which revealed significant changes in their motives and self-efficacy regarding tasks within the classroom and throughout the broader school context. No relationship between this change and teachers’ perceptions of their learning environment was observed. Instead, student teachers’ perception of the quality of teaching predicted their assessments of their ability and self-efficacy in a school context at the end of their education.     

Towards a broader understanding of authority in student–teacher relationships

In this paper we problematise the notion of authority as it appears in discourse relating to school discipline. The account of authority that dominates is narrow and restricted, and the term is sometimes used as a synonym for control. This prohibits full consideration of the range of relationships in which authority manifests itself. We draw on sociological and philosophical literature, and argue that a multi-dimensional concept of authority may offer a more nuanced framework for theorising student–teacher relationships in schools. We consider how each of the forms of authority outlined by Wrong (2002 Wrong, D. H. 2002. Power: its forms bases and uses, 3rd edn., London: Transaction Publishers.  [Google Scholar])—coercive, legitimate, competent, personal and authority by inducement—may have some application to the classroom setting. In particular we explore the concept of ‘personal authority' and its potential to enhance understanding of the contested and under-theorised concept of authority. We begin by exploring ways in which the current policy context presents challenges to particular forms of authority.     

Enhancing teachers’ counselling skills: student teachers’ views on a teachers’ education programme

The purpose of this small‐scale study is to investigate the outcomes of a brief teacher education programme by exploring student teachers’ views. The teacher education programme aimed to provide teachers with the opportunity to develop qualities and skills that facilitate communication and to enhance teachers’ competence to apply social and emotional (SEL) programmes’ intervention activities in the classroom. According to student teachers’ estimations, the teacher education programme provided them with new knowledge and experiences in communication and counselling, which they felt they could use in teaching practice. Besides, teachers reported that the programme enabled them to develop their self‐awareness and to adopt a non‐directive attitude during the implementation of SEL programme’s activities.     

Incorporating critical thinking in the pedagogical content of a teacher education programme: does it make a difference?

Recent educational policies, national reports, and voluminous literature stress that critical thinking (CT) is an essential skill in any stage of schooling for producing critical thinkers and ensuring better learning. The importance of teaching CT has been raised in teacher education programmes because students are supposed to teach this skill in schools in the future. This study therefore assesses the effects of a CT-based pedagogical course on student teachers’ content knowledge and CT disposition. A pre-test–post-test experimental study was carried out in a vocational pre-service teacher education programme in Turkey. Although the students who were exposed to CT-based instruction showed better progress in both academic achievement and CT disposition than in traditional instruction, this result was not statistically significant according to the Mixed Factorial ANOVA and ANCOVA results.     

Does a year make a difference? The classroom management practices of primary student teachers before and after a one-year teacher education programme

The purpose of this study was to examine primary student teachers' use, confidence and success in various classroom management strategies at the start and at the end of a one-year teaching programme and ascertain any significant differences between the two time periods. One hundred and twenty-four English primary student teachers were surveyed at both time periods. Student teachers indicate that they would employ mostly preventative and lower-level corrective strategies at the start and at the end of the programme. Over the one year there was a significant increase in the use, confidence and success of preventative and relatively more intrusive corrective strategies, while the use and confidence of lower-level corrective strategies remained the same. The study tentatively highlights the cumulative impact of a one-year teaching programme on some but not all classroom management skills.     

Collaborative approaches in initial teacher education: lessons from approaches to developing student teachers’ use of the Internet in science teaching

In many countries, governments are keen to persuade teachers at all levels to seek to enhance the learning of their students by incorporating information and communication technologies within their classrooms. This paper reports on the development of collaborative approaches to supporting use of the Internet by Post Graduate Certificate of Education (PGCE) science students on initial teacher education (ITE) courses in England, drawing on data from five higher education institution (HEI)–school partnerships across four years. A mixed-method approach was used, involving questionnaires, structured interviews, lesson observations and case studies. The outcomes of the first three years identified barriers to practice and suggested the need to develop more collaborative approaches to development. The focus of this paper is on examining ways in which university faculty tutors and mentors or cooperating teachers can work together with students on PGCE courses in developing practice. The lessons from this focus on the Internet, no longer a new technology, have enabled us to identify implications for HEI partnerships in ITE and suggest a need for further collaborative structures in order to support and develop practices, including those involving the innovative use of new technologies in the post-industrial society.     

Community building of (student) teachers and a teacher educator in a school–university partnership

School?Cuniversity partnerships (SUPs) are considered a way of improving teacher education. For the successful implementation of such partnerships, cooperation between the different stakeholders is of crucial importance. Therefore, most partnerships are organised in short- and long-term teams, which are usually composed of teachers, student teachers and representatives of the university faculty. This study focused on the collaboration process of a team of modern language teachers who work and learn together in a teacher community. The aim of this study was to investigate how to design a learning environment that stimulates community development in these teams, applying the cooperative learning model of Johnson and Johnson in Learning together and alone: cooperative, competitive, and individualistic learning. Allyn and Bacon, Boston, (1999). Based on this model, design principles were developed to stimulate community development in this group. Community development was measured through observations of the meetings of the group, using the community model of Admiraal, Lockhorst and van der Pol described in this issue. The five principles found relevant in this SUP team were profiling the group as an identity, equivalent cooperation, rotating the chairperson, reflecting on the collaboration and giving feedback on the products made in the group.     

Pedagogical approaches to exploring theory–practice relationships in an outdoor education teacher education programme

Understanding theory–practice relationships in pre-service teacher education is an enduring concern for many teacher educators. Drawing on data from an investigation into the theory–practice nexus in an outdoor education teacher education programme, this article examines pedagogical approaches to exploring theory and practice with pre-service teachers. The investigation, a qualitative case study, examined the views of the programme’s teacher educators (authors) using an analytical lens informed by two similar theoretical models.

The article focuses on elements that were found to be central to pedagogical approaches within the programme: self-awareness, experience, reflexivity, and a “community of learners.” While the approaches represent a departure from “theory application” and “theory–practice integration” approaches, and a move towards praxis development, the study highlighted challenges and issues including the need for teacher educators to scrutinise theory–practice relationships in their own teaching and discourse. Implications and possibilities for future practice are considered.     

MOOCs in teacher education: institutional and pedagogical change?

We study the implementation of a MOOC initiative which involved two distinct teacher education institutions at HEIs, and where the implementation was led by a governmental body. Our aim was to see in what ways this initiative changed the teacher education involved, in terms of institutional organisation and pedagogics. Based on interviews with stakeholders from the government and from the two HEIs, we found that the process of implementing and piloting the MOOC faced various sorts of resistance. Our study might serve as a contribution to researchers and practitioners involved in development and running MOOCs as cross institutional initiatives, in that it addresses the diversity of challenges new study models are facing within HEIs. It may also be of interest to teacher education departments responsible for continuing education programs, since it demonstrates the opportunities that comes with a MOOC to provide larger groups of in-service teachers with new educational possibilities.     

Who becomes a teacher? The characteristics of student teachers in four countries

This paper reviews the characteristics of students entering initial training in four countries—Ghana, Lesotho, Malawi, and Trinidad and Tobago. First a brief overview of the teacher education systems is provided. Second, biographical data is reviewed on age, religious affiliation, ethnic group and mother tongue, parental occupations and academic achievement, and students’ educational qualifications. Third, some insights into trainees’ perceptions about teaching and the teaching profession are presented. Finally, comparisons are made for two countries on cross-sectional data comparing the perceptions of entering and exiting trainees and newly qualified teachers. The results draw attention to the qualities and perceptions that those on initial training programmes bring to the teacher education curriculum. They provide a reminder that teacher education curricula should recognise these characteristics and be designed to respond to needs that they create.     

Student teachers’ engagement in Facebook-assisted peer assessment in an initial teacher education context: speaking 2.0

Although peer assessment (PA) has been explored and implemented in higher education, little is known about how it is carried out through such a virtual platform as Facebook in an initial teacher education (ITE) context. To fill this practical void, this article showcases the brief portrait of Facebook-assisted PA in an English as a foreign language (EFL) classroom. This in-practice article shows how Facebook as an online platform serves as virtual engagement in PA among English student teachers in the EFL speaking classroom. This virtual engagement not only created an interactive virtual speaking classroom, but also it encouraged students to become critical reflective language learners.     

Negotiation in immersion teacher–student interaction

This paper explores the role of negotiation in teacher–student interaction and argues that the negotiation of meaning, defined as a set of conversational moves which work toward mutual comprehension, is too narrow a construct to fulfil its pedagogical potential in teacher–student interaction in communicative and content-based second language (L2) classrooms. Drawing on examples from immersion classrooms, where the overriding focus is on delivery of subject matter in the L2, an argument is presented in support of a more comprehensive view of negotiation that accounts for corrective feedback and distinguishes between meaning-focused and form-focused negotiation.     

Can cooperating teachers help student teachers develop a vision of education?

Abstract

Research in teacher education is increasingly concerned with teachers' visions of education and their sense of calling, mission, and professional identity. Interviews with outstanding cooperating teachers focused on exploring their beliefs on teacher vision, and what makes a good teacher. The teachers were also asked to discuss their beliefs on whether vision—and the independence of spirit that a strong vision is thought to foster—is relevant in their work with student teachers. The teachers revealed a strong sense of why they teach and shared goals around several themes. They also maintained that reflection is key to developing a vision of education. Teacher education programs can support these teachers' views of quality education by developing conceptual frameworks that foster reflection and the development of a vision for education, particularly in the student teaching experience.     

Anatomy of a teacher–student feedback encounter

This study examines the anatomy of a teacher–student feedback encounter by qualitatively analysing live recordings of feedback between a teacher and her student in upper secondary school in Norway. By conducting a conversation analysis, this research identifies the overall organisation of the encounter. The results reveal that, first, the teacher used questions to establish a basis to promote her own agenda and worked to optimise students' contributions by providing positive feedback and minimising critiques and disagreement and second, the student approached the teacher's feedback with resistance. The study concludes with pedagogical implications for practice.     

Learning about the world of the student: writing poetry for teacher–student understanding

The authors aim to assist teachers to gain a deeper understanding of the inner lives of students especially those with special educational needs. This aim is pursued in two ways. The first is an exploration of the experience of writing poetry using the students' sentiments, actual words and phrases – a poetic engagement. The second is to argue for the transformative potential of this poetic engagement for the practitioner seeking to ‘get alongside’ the student.     

Effective teacher? Student self-evaluation of development and progress on a teacher education programme

This article examines 28 teachers’ views about their teacher education requirements. The participants were enrolled on a one-year full-time pre-service teacher education programme with a focus on post-compulsory education and training. The study examines how student teachers’ self-evaluations against aspects of teaching professional practice changed, developed and evolved over the duration of the course. The results reveal a statistically significant improvement in self-evaluation when all areas of professional expertise are considered. In addition, the study reports a decline, as the programme progresses, in student-assessed need to learn about specific aspects of teaching.     

Educator–student communication in sex & relationship education: a comparison of teacher and peer-led interventions

This paper presents findings from a comparative study of peer- and teacher-led Sex and Relationship Education (SRE). One lesson delivered by a peer educator, and one lesson delivered by a teacher was observed with the aim of exploring the communicative process between educators and students within SRE. It is claimed that open communication between students and peer educators promotes the adoption of positive attitudes to sexual health, making it a potential alternative to teacher-led provision. Yet to our knowledge, no studies have investigated the communicative process within peer-led adolescent health interventions to examine factors underpinning its potential efficacy. The development of a coding scheme to measure the extent to which educators and students are communicating openly within SRE is used to describe the communicative process between sex educators and students, characterise differences in communication within peer- and teacher-led conditions and discuss how these differences affect student participation in SRE. Results suggest interaction of students in the peer-led condition was different to that of students receiving teacher-led SRE; and provide valuable insight into educator–student communication in the context of classroom-based SRE.